Carlisle keeper Matty Glennon is confident the Cumbrians can bounce straight back this season.

Glennon, who came third in our Player of the Year competition, is looked on by many fans as the man who almost saved the club from relegation.

Five years on from Jimmy Glass' incredible goalscoring heroics, Glennon's memorable injury-time penalty save at Mansfield kept hopes of another great escape well and truly alive.

But it was all to end in tears for Paul Simpson's troops when the following week Cheltenham Town ended Carlisle's 76-year association with the Football League.

Glennon, 25, acknowledged the irony in collecting his trophy after a season which saw the Cumbrians relegated - the biggest disappointment of his career.

"To go from the highs of Mansfield to the lows of Cheltenham was awful. It was a horrible feeling," he said.

"There were only a couple of teams performing better than us and we really believed we could escape."

Glennon's preperations for the new campaign have been hampered by a knee injury but, with the help of a rehabilitation course at Lilleshall, he remains optimistic of featuring in Carlisle's opener at home to Canvey Island - and feels the Cumbrians are rightly tipped to go up.

"We have kept the same team from Christmas that won all those games, and I think we deserve to be the bookies' favourites," he said.

"We are, however, expecting a very tough season. The lads are under no illusions about moving down a division and winning every game.

"There are some good sides in this league and we are going to have to work hard to get back up again."